Howe Sound
Howe Sound
Discover Boating
Discover great boating locations to get out on the water. Take a look at our featured boating destinations. With a boat, great getaways are just a weekend away. These popular boating locations may be just a few miles from home, but it feels like you're a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of your daily routine.
Howe Sound
Cutting deep into the Coast Mountain Range that lies northwest of Vancouver, Howe Sound is a mini cruising ground in its own right. Rising abruptly from the water’s edge, the majestic mountains provide the recreational boater with stunningly beautiful vistas, especially in spring and early summer when the sparkling snow capped peaks contrast with the lush green of the lower, timbered slopes.
The nooks and coves along the shorelines of Bowen, Gambier and Keats Islands provide a host of anchoring opportunities while the protected channels between the islands with their gentle summer breezes, make these waters a sailor’s playground.
The delights of Snug Cove and Mannion Bay on Bowen Island are only fifteen kilometres from the hustle and bustle of Vancouver’s Lower Mainland. Pack a picnic lunch, pick up a trail map and enjoy an energetic hike to the summit of Mount Gardner with its dazzling view over Howe Sound.
The long finger-like inlets of Gambier Island’s southern shoreline can provide many days of pleasant adventuring for the cruising boater. Halkett Bay Marine Park is a popular weekend retreat that reveals a tiny shell beach at low tide and a vigorous 614m (2,014 ft) climb to Mount Artaban.
Sunshine Coast
Cruising the Sunshine Coast has a little bit of everything for boaters and offers good provisioning stops if you're heading up to Princess Louisa Inlet, Desolation Sound and points further north. Gibsons is a busy community with lots of restaurants and gift stores, and the Gibsons Marina is a one-stop shop for boaters needing service, power, fuel or provisions. Further up the coast, central Pender Harbour is a lively destination for boaters with many marinas, restaurants and outdoor activities to enjoy. At the head of Jervis Inlet, Princess Louisa';s spectacular Chatterbox Falls is said to be one of the most dramatic and beautiful places on earth.
Haida Gwaii
Formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, Haida Gwaii is made up of magnificent groves of ancient cedar and spruce, secluded inlets, hot springs and white-sand beaches that stretch as far as the eye can see. Haida Gwaii is a world-class boating destination for the truly adventurous cruiser seeking remote wilderness and peace and quiet. Boaters will revel in the great outdoors, with unique temperate rainforests and pristine beaches.
Overshadowing all this are the people of the Haida First Nation who oversee and protect the many ancient village sites where totems still stand and attract visitors from around the world.
The area is also home to some of the world's top sport fishing lodges where by day guests battle giant salmon and halibut and then return to luxurious accommodation and gourmet meals at night.
Desolation Sound
The setting: it's an early August morning of 1792 and it's looking to be yet another stifling hot summer day, much the same as it has been since mid-June. Captain George Vancouver of the British Royal Navy, has been working his way up the west coast of North America, rowing and trying to sail up every nook and cranny that heads westward in search of that blessed and so far elusive NW Passage. Presently he is anchored approximately 100 miles northwest of the location he felt would make an excellent settlement (he's thinking he will name it Vancouver). Since then the sailing has been within a large but well protected body of water bordered by what appears to be a large mountainous and heavily forested island directly to the west (he's thinking of naming it Vancouver Island) and the even more mountainous and densely forested mainland to the east. So far he's found nothing but endless snow capped mountains, waterfalls, eagles, bears, deer, mountain goats, dolphins, gray whales, killer whales and salmon, lots of salmon. Now anchored in a remote area of small islands and narrow fjord-like waterways meandering amongst steep sided 5000 ft to 7000 ft mountains, the work of the boat crews has slowed considerably due to the sudden frequent occurrence of large numbers of them mysteriously falling out of the boats. The sea water temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit, he suspects, may have something to do with it. The Spanish are anchored nearby in a rare era of "friendly nations" and they're drinking all his good wine. It's hot, his wig is itchy as hell and after yet another evening spent entertaining the Spanish he has a terrible headache. By God he thinks, a good name for this place would be: "Desolation Sound".
Mighty Fraser Country
The Mighty Fraser River, the longest in BC, rises in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. The river’s turbulent waters widen and flow south through fertile valleys until they curve west and empty into the Straight of Georgia. Named after explorer Simon Fraser, the first European to navigate its waters, the Fraser River holds many historic memories and continues to create awe in those who travel its magnificent route through the province.
Visiting boaters will enjoy participating in the abundance of activities on the Fraser River from cruising the river, joining a river safari, embarking on a white water adventure, to fantastic fishing. In Lytton, “The Rafting Capital of Canada,” the Fraser and Thompson rivers meet, generating spectacular whitewater rapids. The Fraser River is also known for its sturgeon and salmon fishing. With over 60% of the salmon migration passing through Mission, lucky anglers from around the world can fulfill their dream of catching either a salmon or a sturgeon in the Mighty Fraser River.
Originally published here.